As we continue our Charlie Brown-like shuffling within this mortal coil, we still need to take a break to feed our brains. Join us for an Afternoon Snack with a little bit of everything: sweet things to enjoy as a treat, thoughtful essays and articles that nourish our smoothened brains, and just a dab of decades-old but still spicy gossip.
Looking for some good reads as we enter reading-outside-in-the-sun-maybe-beside-water-maybe-not season? POME fave Sarah Kuhn has us covered with her list of 20 Joyful Asian Stories You’re Going to Love.
One of our favorite comics festivals, Short Run, is celebrating a decade this year! Crosscut covered Short Run’s unique approach to keeping the indie comics festival energy alive during the pandemic without resorting to online events, in addition to their exciting upcoming anniversary celebrations.
For the deep shōjo heads: Anime News Network reports that Moto Hagio published a memoir this spring addressing her legendary feud with Keiko Takemiya. With no disrespect to the artists whose relationship was clearly very painful, we cannot help but be EXTREMELY INTRIGUED by Hagio’s cryptic statement on the release of the book:
With the conclusion of this writing, I intend to seal my memories in permafrost once again. I hope that I will never again have to dig up this past that I have buried.
Shout out to POME contributor Hayden Harwood, who recently published an article covering Wisconsin’s troubling proposed law to cut state funding from municipalities that reduce funding for police. It has great information on the uphill battle to defund the police, even if you don’t live in Wisconsin.
Whether you are just learning about the Palestine-Isreal conflict or have long had a stake in the issue, we recommend reading scholar Yousef Munayyer’s recent essay for Foreign Policy, detailing why US politicians’ continued support of a “two-state solution” “functions much like ‘thoughts and prayers’ does from Republicans each time a mass shooting reignites the American debate over gun control.”
This Mother Jones article on the Black American farmers working to re-establish connection to the land through collective farming is a fascinating and curative read, especially for fans of Afrofuturism: the first farm mentioned in the article is aptly named the Earthseed Land Collective.
If you need a little extra boost of wholesome fantasy to get you through the coming week, we got you: simply imagine being a serenaded cow.